1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data backup and recovery solutions. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to software, hardware, systems, and methods for generating new full backups using previous full backups and incremental backups.
2. The Relevant Technology
Economic, political, and social power are increasingly managed by data. Transactions and wealth are represented by data. Political power is analyzed and modified based on data. Human interactions and relationships are defined by data exchanges. Hence, the efficient distribution, storage, and management of data is expected to play an increasingly vital role in human society.
The quantity of data that must be managed, in the form of computer programs, databases, files, and the like, increases exponentially. As computer processing power increases, operating system and application software becomes larger. Moreover, the desire to access larger data sets such as multimedia files and large databases further increases the quantity of data that is managed. Additionally, this increasingly large data load often requires one or more data protection services, which may include generating backups and performing other operations or services for the data, further increasing the quantity of data that must be managed.
Conventional backup systems include a backup server for storing backup data generated by production servers (e.g., file servers) and/or other backup server clients. File servers typically generate full backups on a somewhat infrequent basis while generating incremental backups much more frequently. For instance, a file server might perform weekly full backups and daily incremental backups. In either case, backups from file servers are often provided to the backup server in a sequential list format, such as tar or a variant thereof, that is suitable for tape cartridges or other sequential access storage devices.
Backups are useful for several purposes. One purpose, for example, is for disaster recovery, e.g., to restore a computer (such as a file server) to an operational state following a disaster. Another purpose is to restore small numbers of files that have accidentally, inadvertently, or otherwise been deleted, corrupted, or destroyed. In either case, restoration often involves retrieving a full backup and one or more incremental backups. When the full backup and the incremental backups are on different tape cartridges, restoration can be a very involved and complicated process. Additionally, the affected data set can only be restored up to the dump date of the most recent backup.
Thus, the usefulness and convenience of backup data may depend on a number of factors, including the frequency with which backups are generated and the type of backups (e.g., full vs. incremental) available for restoration. For example, the more frequently that backups are generated, the more up-to-date backup data is when restoration/recovery is desired. Similarly, a full backup is the most convenient for restoration since a data set can be restored up to the dump date of the full backup in a single operation without using any incremental backups.
Unfortunately, various network constraints may limit the frequency with which full backups can be performed. For instance, generating a full backup can be a resource intensive operation and may require taking a file server offline when generating a full backup. However, the needs of network users and other factors may limit the frequency with which the file server can realistically be taken offline. Additionally, sending a full backup over a network to a backup server may require a significant amount of network bandwidth. Once again, network bandwidth availability may be limited by the needs of users and/or other factors.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced